Jiuxi

Chapter 904 Chapter 902 [Leading the snake out of its hole]

The sun rises, and the bright sunshine shines on the city wall of Teng County.

Ever since Heluo fell into the hands of Jing's army twenty years ago, this originally unremarkable county town has gradually become a battleground for military strategists.

Especially two years ago, when Da Qi gained an overall advantage and Jing’s army was forced to retreat to the Tongbai line, Teng County’s strategic position was further enhanced.

The official road to the north of Teng County can lead directly to Heluo, and to the northwest it connects to the Tongbai defense line of the Jing army. To the south is the junction of the three states of Ding, Huai and Jing of the Da Qi Dynasty.

Lu Chen naturally would not ignore the defense of this area. In addition to the 5,000 defenders in Teng County, there were 7,000 defenders in Ningling City in the southeast, and 8,000 elite soldiers stationed in Pingli City in the south under the command of Panlong Army Commander He Gui. Further south was Panlong Pass, which was extremely easy to defend and difficult to attack.

To the southwest are Xinchang City and Shiquan City in Jingzhou.

This defense system includes one county, one pass and four cities, with a total force of 35,000 people.

The garrison commander of Teng County was Liu Tongzhao, deputy commander of the Guangling Army. He had 5,000 elite soldiers under his command who were brave and good at fighting. Two captains and five colonels had all participated in the Battle of Guangling seven years ago.

In other words, including Liu Tongzhao himself, these generals all participated in Lu Chen's first battle, which is why Lu Chen deliberately placed them in Teng County.

"General, the statistics are out."

Captain Meng Jin came to the foot of the tower and said to Liu Tongzhao: "In yesterday's battle, 227 of our soldiers were killed and 176 were wounded."

Liu Tongzhao said solemnly: "Make a good record of the names and hometowns of the casualties, and send them to the Governor's Office for registration in a timely manner so that they can be properly compensated after the war."

Meng Jin responded: "Yes!"

Liu Tongzhao stepped forward and came to the edge of the city wall. He placed his hands on the parapet and looked at the vaguely visible Jingjun camp in the north.

In the Battle of Guangling, he was just an ordinary lieutenant. He saw with his own eyes that the Jing army was approaching Guangling City with thousands of Huaizhou people as human shields. At that time, he was in his early twenties and wanted to jump off the city wall to fight with the enemy. Now he is thirty years old, of course, he is not so impulsive. After experiencing countless wars, he has become more and more mature and stable. Only the passion in his bones that a man should die on the battlefield has not cooled down.

From the moment he took over the defense of Teng County, he knew how heavy the burden on his shoulders was.

Once Jing's army moves south, Teng County will inevitably become a thorn in their side. Even if their main attack direction is not here, they will dispatch heavy troops for deterrence.

The fact was just as Liu Tongzhao expected. After Wuyan Shu led an army of 160,000 to the south, he ordered the vanguard general Gulijia to lead 20,000 elite soldiers to approach Teng County.

In just five days, Gulijia ordered three consecutive offensives.

Although Jing's army never reached the top of Teng County City, this was just the beginning. Liu Tongzhao could foresee that there would be one bloody battle after another.

"Woo——"

A magnificent trumpet sounded in the northern land.

The soldiers defending the city wall immediately perked up.

Liu Tongzhao narrowed his eyes slightly and calmly ordered: "Meng Jin, you lead 800 people to defend the West City, Shi Xin, you lead 800 people to defend the East City."

"The last general takes command!"

The two captains strode away.

Liu Tongzhao personally took charge of the North City.

The Jing army quickly appeared on the position outside the city, and then launched a swift offensive without any hesitation.

This battle lasted for about two hours, and Jing's army finally returned empty-handed. However, compared with the previous three times, today a few elite troops finally climbed to the top of the city wall. Although they were killed by the Tiger Guards reserved by Liu Tongzhao, it at least showed that they had the possibility of breaking through the county town.

When the smoke cleared, the soldiers began to clean up the battlefield and treat their comrades.

Liu Tongzhao's armor was also stained with blood. As the backbone of the 5,000 soldiers in the city, he never hid behind the crowd to give orders.

"General!"

More than a dozen soldiers who were resting against the wall immediately stood up and saluted when they saw him coming.

Liu Tongzhao looked at them one by one and asked with concern: "Are you injured?"

"no!"

Everyone shook their heads quickly, and one of the captains said loudly: "General, we are not cowardly at all, and we are not afraid of getting hurt."

Liu Tongzhao smiled and said, "Are you afraid of death?"

The captain said without hesitation: "Don't be afraid!"

"Are you really afraid?"

"I'm really not afraid. Even if we die in battle, the general will not forget us. I remember the prince said that anyone who dies on the battlefield, in addition to the pension money issued by the court, the prince will also give an extra sum of silver, which adds up to about 100 or 200 taels, enough for the family to buy dozens of acres of paddy fields. If you can drag a few Jingguo beasts with you before you die, you can get more than 100 taels of silver, which is enough for the family to use for many years."

Liu Tongzhao looked at this weathered but still proud face, and couldn't help but feel a little emotional, so he raised his hand, patted his shoulder and said, "Live well."

"Ok!"

The captain responded calmly, and then asked curiously: "General, will we have reinforcements?"

Liu Tongzhao glanced at the soldiers who were gathering around him and jokingly said, "Didn't you just say you weren't afraid?"

"General, you misunderstood. I am looking forward to reinforcements not because I am afraid of not being able to defend Teng County."

The captain named Yang Feng raised his thick eyebrows and said sternly: "If reinforcements come, the general can lead us out of the city to fight and kill the Jing army outside the city!"

"That's right! Kill them all!"

The other soldiers spoke excitedly, attracting the attention of the soldiers in the distance.

Liu Tongzhao looked at their excited and fearless expressions, and recalled the experience of being terrified of Tan Jingjun back then. Now these young people are confident enough. It can be said that times have changed and the world has undergone tremendous changes.

From this small detail, we can see that Qi Jing's strength has increased and decreased, and is different from the past.

"There will be a chance." Liu Tongzhao smiled faintly, and then a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly sounded beside him.

He turned his head and saw Meng Jin rushing over with two cavalry scouts, so he turned around to meet them.

"General!"

The scout bowed and said in a low voice, "I have discovered a group of Jingjun infantrymen about 30 miles northwest of here. There are about 10,000 of them and they are heading to the Jingjun camp in the north."

Liu Tongzhao's heart sank, and he looked at Meng Jin and asked, "What do you think?"

Meng Jin thought for a moment and replied, "General, it seems that the enemy is going to take Teng County as the main attack direction."

Liu Tongzhao walked to the side of the parapet, looked at the clear sky in the north, and fell into long contemplation.

Although he was not aware of Lu Chen's overall plan, as the commander-in-chief of an army, he must have more information than ordinary generals.

He knew that in addition to the more than 30,000 defenders in the open, there were two elite divisions on standby. One was the Jingzhou Qingxu Army hidden in the southwest, and the other was the Feiyu Army that could launch a long-distance raid at any time.

As long as he could identify the real intentions of the Jing army and confirm that the other side was going to launch the main attack in Teng County, the Qi army would increase its investment in this battlefield and strive to achieve a small-scale victory before the main force of the Jing army approached Dingzhou, thereby defeating the Jing army's morale.

"From the current situation, it seems that the Jing army has such a plan, but——"

Liu Tongzhao paused for a moment and said in a deep voice, "I always feel that something is wrong. The opponent's attack is very cautious and he is not using all his strength. It is more like a conservative test. Sun Kang."

The scout immediately responded, "I am here!"

Liu Tongzhao said slowly: "Report the situation in Teng County to the prince and the great governor Liu. Remember not to exaggerate and report the truth."

"Yes!"

Sun Kang took the order and left.

……

More than ten miles north of Teng County is the Jing army camp.

Although Teng County was not captured, the morale of Jing's army was not affected. Especially when 10,000 reinforcements arrived, the atmosphere in the camp became even more high-spirited.

Inside the general's tent, the commander Gu Lijia looked at the general Shu Hu who had led the reinforcements and said with a smile, "The commander actually sent you here."

Shuhu was over forty years old, with a burly figure and a cold face. He said leisurely, "Why, you look down on me?"

"No way."

Gu Lijia was originally the commander of the prison army, Daxiangyin. Now, the nearly 20,000 soldiers in the camp are all his old subordinates who have been with him for a long time. In terms of seniority, they are better than Shuhu, but he knows that the other party is the confidant of the commander-in-chief Wu Yanshu, so he said politely: "If it weren't for the commander-in-chief's order, I would have taken Teng County by now. Why would I bother you to make a trip?"

It's not that he's overly conceited.

Before this expedition, Wu Yanshu gave him instructions in person, asking him to keep up the pressure on the defenders of Teng County but not to actually capture the city.

To be honest, Gulijia was completely confused by this arrangement.

Although the Qi army in Teng County is powerful, the conditions of the county itself are not as solid as a rock. Gulijia has enough confidence to capture the city within ten days, and there is no need for Shuhu to lead 10,000 reinforcements.

Shu Hu knew his thoughts very well and said calmly, "The commander-in-chief said that Teng County is not just a county town, but also the defense core of the Qi army in this area. On the surface, your enemy is the 5,000 defenders in the city, but in fact, there are tens of thousands of soldiers deployed in various places around the city, and perhaps there are many ambushes hidden by the enemy. It is meaningless to just capture Teng County. What is more important is to prevent the enemy from guessing our intentions."

Gu Lijia was slightly startled, and an idea came to his mind. He asked tentatively: "Does the Marshal want to pretend to attack Teng County, but actually attack Yanwu City on the western front?"

He knew that the Qi army had limited manpower and could not do everything, otherwise there would be no need to take a defensive stance.

Faced with the all-out attack by the Jing army, the Qi army could only guess the real main battlefield and make accurate responses. In Gulijia's view, this was the significance of Shuhu's coming to support.

Let the Qi army think that Teng County will be the place of the decisive battle, transfer all the mobile forces there, and then launch a surprise attack on the other side of Yanwu line. This is to lure the tiger away from the mountain and attack the east while making a feint to the west.

"How can it be that simple? Do you think Nanqi Lu Chen is someone who can be easily deceived?"

Shu Hu leaned forward and said in a low voice: "If the Qi army is determined to fight here, can our 30,000 infantrymen stop them? In other words, if the enemy ignores our strengths and weaknesses and forcibly eats up our troops, how will you respond?"

Gulijia couldn't help but frown.

"Don't worry."

Shuhu smiled slightly, and then said: "The Marshal has deployed 20,000 light cavalry behind us, and they can support us at any time."

Gulijia became more and more confused. Now even he couldn't figure out whether Wu Yanshu's real target was Teng County or Yanwu City.

"You can regard both the east and west lines as feints, or you can regard them as real moves."

Shu Hu did not continue to keep the secret, with a cold look in his eyes: "The commander asked me to tell you that this time our goal is not to attack the city, but to lure the Qi army out. No matter where they want to attack, as long as they are willing to engage in a head-on battle with our army, that's enough."

Gulijia suddenly realized and murmured, "The commander wants to consume as much of the enemy's strength as possible?"

"Yes."

Shu Hu grinned and said, "I'm not afraid that Lu Chen will guess the main attack direction of our army, I'm just afraid that he will retreat!"

Gulijia's heart was lifted when he heard the words. He couldn't help but stand up and pace in the tent. He stopped and looked at the simple sand table in front of him. His sight moved from the area of ​​Teng County on the eastern front to Taikang City in the central part of Jingzhou, and then looked at Yanwu City, an important town far in the west.

"Wonderful."

Gulijia clasped his hands together and praised: "General, this strategy is indeed brilliant. From the overall perspective of the war, exchanging the pieces is the most correct choice!"

Shu Hu said leisurely: "When your majesty leads the main force to arrive, the Qi army will no longer be able to resist."

The two looked at each other and smiled.

(End of this chapter)